Yammy is good, I personally thought and still do that Izumo is cancer. Have played Iowa in Alpha and recently on a buddies account. If you know how to position and abuse CE, Iowa is the far superior ship.

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Yamato's selling point is the set of 460mm guns. The price you pay is Izumo.

Iowa's okay, especially since the citadel got lowered. My misgivings with her is that she is long and clumsy compared to Alabama and North Carolina. Montana is also good at Tier X. For me, I have all Tier X BBs and Montana is the most all-around, most comfortable, safest to play.

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North Carolina to Iowa to Montana in a normal grind. Iowa is a blast to play once you learn to forget the rear turret 90% of the time. Really good ship. Biggest thing is to use SGM2 and get to Hull C asap as it reduces the rudder shift to a somewhat manageable level (also boosts AA as a bonus) which is horrendous stock.

Amagi to Yamato using Free XP to skip Izumo. No way in heck I was playing Izumo. No interest in an all guns forward ship.

How I did it^^^ anyway.

Yamato is awesome (the guns) but to be honest Montana's guns are not that far behind based on 12 v 9. I find Montana a better ship overall than Yamato. So IMO go for both. Iowa 1st in the normal way and when you have enough Free XP get Yamato and skip Izumo. It takes 395K Free XP to upgrade Izumo[146] and then research Yamato[249] once you have Izumo itself researched.

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I've had more than a few battles in both ships. I'd have to say that prefer to play the Iowa more than the Izumo but for some reason I have a much better record in the Izumo. I'm not sure why though. Both ships lead to the conclusion of their respective branches but few ships are as respected or famous as the Yamato. Plus the Yammy has it's own theme song:

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For me the Iowa is a much better ship than the Izumo. Can't make the Izumo work. Just got the Montana and haven't really played it enough to comment on it. Only played the Yamato on the Public Test and did real good in it.

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fwiw - i've bought and sold the Izumo two times at least, if not three. She is the absolute worst ship above tier six in my book. As others have written, she's a "paywall". Don't waste your time/money - go with the Iowa.

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Iowa is the much better ship, but tier nine is just a waystation on the journey to tier 10 in this case. If you want the big guns of the Yami, then you are forced to hold your nose and grind through the Izumo (which I did and it was painful... until I got so sick of it and free exp'd the last 100K), or grind through the base hull, and upgrades to get a good ship in the Iowa, then get the "devastating strike" Montana...

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Yamato has it's niche, can punch in the bow of opposing BB's/CA's yet it can do so safely with only 6 of 9 guns. It is also the only tier 10 BB can the be reliably citadeled. Can go into a break down of the other tier X BB's but will keep it to the two options at hand. Since unlocking my Montana, I've rarely played the Yamato.

Yamato is great, but can be citadelled easily, you also have to suffer through the Izumo which is basically floating cancer. Montana is a great boat if you understand how the play style works, starting with the Iowa.

I think I've made up my mind, I'll grab the Iowa...but what to spec it?

Iowa is a blast to play once you learn to forget the rear turret 90% of the time

This is bad advice honestly. Going completely bow on is an emergency measure, if you're like that 90% of the time then you're leaving 1/3 of your potential damage untapped because you don't know how to angle. Iowa tanks damage just fine when angled, and the lowered citadel makes it a lot harder to punish the ones that derp around broadside everywhere now. Between the two I personally prefer the Iowa, my experience with the Izumo was either really good or terrible without a lot of consistency in between.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Deviathan

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Iowa has better accuracy, AA, speed, and stealth. Spec for stealth and she's devastating. Bow-in is useful only if no red DDs nearby to keep you lit between volleys. However, she takes regular pens very easily from other BBs and her angle for bouncing AP is smaller than Izumo, not to mention her AA is very easily destroyed by HE spam.

Izumo is unique in that she's built specifically to tank. I've done as much as 40 degree angle to opposing BBs and even Yamato AP has trouble penetrating if you're angled just about 20 degree. I found Izumo works best if play as the meat shield, taking abuse while teammates pulverize enemies and you take what shots you have; around 30-60% of your well-aimed volleys will not be as effective as desired, but it's a fair price for being the hardest T9 BB to destroy.

Maybe that's why the general consensus for Izumo is "lame ship." They don't like being a BB that gives up MB accuracy in exchange for tough armor.

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Izumo is worth a try if you are unsure. I'd recommend getting at least to the B hull before deciding if you want to skip the rest. If it's a one or the other kind of deal, I'd say Iowa first. I have only PTS experience with the Iowa, but she was pretty good in my hands even before the citadel buff. Izumo is not for everyone and I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it or not until the B hull gave me a flicker of hope. Her guns have outstanding pen to at least mid range and she can tank AP all day, except that Brit cruiser stuff that always seems to find something to pen. She is highly allergic to HE of all sorts and her AA needs to be spec'd for to be anything other than average. Turret 3 should be mostly ignored unless a good opportunity presents itself. Personally, I run secondaries on her to help with her weak aft defense, but that is not the build for everyone. I think she could use some slight buffs, but the main reason for her existence is her main guns and they are very good as is. I did keep her even after getting Yamato, but the main reason I don't take her out much anymore is it's cheaper to run Yamato with the premium camo than Izumo with her premium camo, I think WG might want to think about bumping the repair cost reduction on the T9 premium camo a bit so it's more of a linear progression than the jump from -20% to -50% repair cost.

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I never sailed the Iowa, but do have the Missouri which I do like very much. Izumo is a rough ship to sail. I hated it. It is tough and kind of different with its forward guns, but its large body makes it a nice target to start a fire. At some point, you will get abandoned and you wont be able to kite away to protect yourself. Now, the Yamato is a different story. Once you get past the Izumo, the Yamato is pure pleasure. You can see the fear in the faces of your opponents right through their computer screens as they come around an island and there is your Yamato staring at them with all guns ready to fire. Any ship in the game is fodder for the Yamato.

This is bad advice honestly. Going completely bow on is an emergency measure, if you're like that 90% of the time then you're leaving 1/3 of your potential damage untapped because you don't know how to angle. Iowa tanks damage just fine when angled, and the lowered citadel makes it a lot harder to punish the ones that derp around broadside everywhere now. Between the two I personally prefer the Iowa, my experience with the Izumo was either really good or terrible without a lot of consistency in between.

Well, we will have to disagree about it being bad advice because I think it is good advice and it is what I was told to do when I asked about the ship. In playing over 100 games in Iowa I found it to be pretty accurate.

I also never said completely bow on. I said forget those rear guns 90% of the time. I go angled when possible so that I can swing the rear guns into play when safe quicker. Iowa can easily be citadeled if you show too much side so it is best to only use the rear guns when safe to do so. To bring them into play requires showing too much side if the enemy is shooting back at you. Iowa's slow rudder makes it even more dangerous to swing out to bring those rear guns into play because it takes so long to swing back after shooting.

Push it just to bring those 3 rear guns into play and you can get paddled. Better to lose the 3 shells than take 25K+ in damage just to bring the rear turret into play. JMHO